Interior design begins with textiles, and when it comes to home textiles, Fortuny’s legendary fabrics are unmatched in style

In a world where tastes and fashions change quickly, and technology changes even faster, one of the most sought-after secrets in interior design is a turn-of-the-century manufacturing process used by a Venetian fabric house.

“There are no fabrics like Fortuny fabrics,” says Brian D. Coleman, author of the new book “Fortuny Interiors” (Gibbs Smith, 2012), which celebrates how the company’s famous fabrics are used in homes around the world.

Textile manufacturers have long played a central role in home fashion, and Fortuny stands out particularly for its unique and luxurious product.

“The fabrics are so rich in color and texture,” says Mindy Miles Greenberg, owner of Encore Décor LTD in New York. “The color orange isn’t just a solid orange, but orange and red and maybe some threads of purple. There’s such depth to each one.”

The fabrics are also known for their silvery-gold metallic accents: “They sparkle in a room,” Coleman says. And their patterns are widely lauded as well.

Mickey Riad, along with his brother Maury, has been at the helm of Fortuny since 1998. He says, “[Fortuny fabric] patterns vary greatly in style and reflect cultures from all over the world, from traditional 17th- and 18th-century European to modern geometric to ethnic tribal designs influenced by Africa, New Zealand and South America.”

The complex textiles are a direct reflection of the complex life of company founder Mariano Fortuny.

Born in 1871 in the culture crossroads of Granada, Spain – where East met West and Europe met Africa – Fortuny grew up surrounded by art. His father and uncle were well-known painters, and his mother had an extensive collection of antique and tribal textiles. The family also spent time in artist-mecca Paris before settling in Venice, Italy.

Fortuny was more than just an artist, though. He was also an inventor who was very interested in technology, and held patents on everything from boat propellers to theater lights.

It was his marriage of technology and art that made – and has kept – Fortuny fabrics so coveted for the past century. The fabrics appear to be painted; they have a three-dimensional appearance, which is made possible using Fortuny’s secret manufacturing process.

“Fortuny fabrics are almost like a couture dress,” Miles Greenberg says. “There’s something about the fabric that’s hard to describe, but there’s no substitute.”

The exact manufacturing process is a closely guarded secret.

“Our fabrics are still produced in the same factory, on the same machines, and utilize the same secret process and techniques that Mariano Fortuny developed,” Riad says.

The details are hush-hush, but the process involves building up colors layer by layer. “This creates deep, richly varied hues that change with the light and movement,” Coleman explains.

And while it might be hard to believe that something created almost 100 years ago could still be considered modern, the offerings are so varied they can blend into any style space.

“Fortuny transcends any label of decorating,” Miles Greenberg says. “The layers of threads warm up any space, and can’t be described as just modern or traditional.”

There are also several hundred patterns and colorways in company archives, Coleman says. His new book showcases Fortuny textiles in décor styles as diverse as a Malibu, Calif., beach house, where the light blue Fragonard pattern was used on pillows to reflect the colors of the ocean, to a traditional Virginia home, where the owners upholstered the walls in the classic persimmon and gold Lambelle textile.

“One of my favorite applications was the use of Ashanti, an organic, geometric pattern inspired by the sacred kente cloth of the Ashanti people of Ghana, Africa, that was used as chair upholstery in a very modern condominium in San Diego,” Coleman says.

While it’s said you can’t put a price tag on good taste, Fortuny’s complex fabrics and secret manufacturing processes don’t come cheap. The fabrics cost $369 per yard and are available only through design professionals.